Editor
A Florida man is in some serious hot water after authorities raided an illegal poker game that he ran. He was the beneficiary of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the illegal poker operation.
But this man was not just a random Florida man; it was none other than poker pro James Kerr who was the brains behind this operation. The 39-year-old was arrested on April 1st in Polk County, Florida, and was hit with three counts of money laundering in excess of $100,000.
While poker in Florida is a booming business, home games like this break the law.
The game was held just north of Orlando and was raided after authorities conducted an undercover operation, which began after a tip. Undercover cops infiltrated the games and impersonated poker players. They monitored Kerr for years and discovered he tried to conceal illegal earnings of more than $800,000 from 2021-203.
Kerr is a moderately successful pro player. He has close to $700,000 in career poker earnings, with his top prize coming in February 2021, when he won a $1,700 NLH event in the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Classic for $228,038.
Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, who made the arrest, had this to say about the situation.
“If you search him up online, you’ll see he’s won a lot of money legally gambling, but guess what, he became greedy and decided to set up his own illegal game. That’s when he got arrested.”
While the sheriff may not have a thorough understanding of professional poker, referring to strict gambling which is more apt to games such as Pai Gow Poker or Caribbean Stud, he does know that Kerr broke the clear laws in Florida.
There could be more charges coming involving more people in this illegal poker operation web as this story is likely to have many more layers to it.
